Page 1 of Bound By the Wraith: Northern Realms

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Ijust have to bide my time.

Although, patience was never his virtue. That’s what Cillian had to keep reminding himself to do. Which infuriated him, he’d been waiting a very long time. There was something to be said for being a wraith and being able to not only cross realms, but also to cross time and space. He could go wherever he wanted, to do anything. The world was for his taking.

Sort of.

He did have power and could manipulate history to suit his needs to a point, but not completely.

Which was the problem.

And that’s what he’d been doing for far too long, playing with time and never really getting what he wanted because his powers only extended so far. All because his father was a human. And a shit one at that.

And he was fucking tired of it all.

His half sister, and some of his other half siblings, had warned him about messing with the fabric of space and time, but he didn’t care. He’d met Cali a long time ago on one of his historyjaunts. And he let her go time and time again, watching her die. Either she was burnt at the stake, murdered, died of illness. Just, she never succumbed to old age. It was a cruel twist of fate.

She died too many times and yet her soul kept coming back.

He’d feel it, a reverberation in the fibers of the reality.

His little secret realm, or as his brothers-in-law liked to call it, his “goblin kingdom,” was tucked away deep in the underworld. Past the netherworld and that’s where he could sense her the best. That’s when he knew that her energy, or soul, was ready to move on again. To come back to him.

Cali.

His Cali.

Now, the moment was right. Or it almost was, and soon he could make his move.

This version of Cali he wasn’t going to let go of.

This time, he was done waiting for her and he was going to make sure that when she returned to his realm, she would be bound to him no matter what. Wraiths weren’t supposed to have human mates, permanent ones, and perhaps that’s why she was snatched from him repeatedly. Not this time, though. He’d give her an immortal life and no one was going to stop him. Not even Death. He’d set things up so perfectly— cut off the elven realm, overthrow some other realms, and with Cali by his side, he’d crumble the veil and let magical beings and mortals mingle. Then he’d rule it all.

It was easy to manipulate the blood treaty with the northern realm and fire up all those displeased magical beings. Just like it was easy to manipulate the mixing of human and magical beings, which further strengthened the magic potential, strengthening the binds of the northern realm, while destroying Tiene’s.

It was all lining up.

And Cali would be his.

He spent years infiltrating her dreams, trying to get her soul to remember her past lives. The lives they spent together, before her untimely death, every reincarnation. Like Persephone to Hades, he was going to bring her back here and hopefully solidify his complete rule over everything.

If he had his way, he’d punish those responsible for her deaths over the centuries, but he knew he had to be careful with time and time travel. His plan had to unfold correctly, or all would be lost.

“Sire,” a goblin named Honk croaked, scurrying across the stone floor. “It’s time.”

Cillian glanced over at Honk. “You are sure of this?”

Honk nodded. “She is vulnerable.”

Cillian rose from his stone throne and walked over to his balcony. His realm was bare, bereft of life. Just a burnt-orange sky, stone, and brown dying vegetation that his goblins liked to trim into grotesque figures.

It was stark.

Bleak.

His hope, by bringing her here, would mean some life would be breathed back into this desolate place.

Maybe she could breathe some life back into me?

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